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Halloween

Sorry for the total radio silence over here! I can’t even remember the last time I sat down and had some free time on my laptop. It is rare and when it happens I usually waste time on Pinterest! So let’s see what has been going on…
Summer went by in the blink of an eye. As per usual we got inundated with smoke from the forest fires. It unfortunately has become the norm for Interior BC. Well actually a lot more areas than that but those are where the fires are that effect our breathing space. It is not only horrible to be happening in the first place but really puts a damper on the summer fun when you can’t breathe fresh air or see the skyline. We still managed to make the most of it though and got in lots of camping and lake time. Feels like forever ago but the warmer temps are long gone as are our tan lines. Till next time summer, you were a peach! No complaints for fall though. It is one of my favourite times of year, especially here in Kamloops. The colours are stunning and for the most part we have sunny days. Crisp but sunny. A few months ago we removed a few fruit trees from our yard so the leaves clean up is pretty minimal this October. In a way that is great but it also took away a lot of fun for the kids. They love playing in the piles of leaves, as most kids do. Still my raking time has been drastically reduced. I will take it!

We are in the throes of Halloween as it is only a few days away. A local landscape company put on fireworks last weekend which was a blast. The fireworks were fantastic though the fact that EVERY CHILD in Kamloops was in attendance made the whole event a little overwhelming. Not to mention my daughter sliced her tiny finger open getting it caught in the port-o-potty door, followed by a bad reaction to too much candy and the site of blood and puking all over me. All is well now but I will not be surprised if we have trouble getting her back in one of those again when its potty time at a public event. Halloween falls on a Wednesday this year so that means Hallie has preschool for half of the day, followed by an afternoon/evening of Trick-Or-Treating and large amounts of sugar. It will no doubt be a very long day, but hey that is what it’s all about!

I love, love, love Halloween but this year i have found it challenging to really get into the swing of things. We still have yet to carve pumpkins and the decorations are not up to the usual Hayward standards. We will have to make up for it next year and go all out! Or maybe we will make up for it this Christmas. The kids are already asking me when the Christmas tree will be arriving. God help my husband, they are turning into Christmas obsessed little monsters, just like their momma. Speaking of monsters….. The phases these two are in at the moment are quite the treat! That was some thinly veiled sarcasm in case no one picked up on it. Jackson is two and is … emotional. A mama’s boy. Stubborn. Sweet as pie. Constantly running around. Oh and hates sleeping. Hallie just turned four. Also emotional. Slightly bipolar it seems at times. Very attached to mom. Heart of cold. Extremely sensitive. They love and hate each other fiercely and like to drive me bonkers. Can’t wait to see what the next phase is like! Often leaving the house with them is extremely daunting but it’s exactly what they need most of the time. That or a tranquilizer… I mean they are perfect little angels and I am never annoyed at them (eye rolls here!). Time and time again I keep telling myself I need to read a parenting book or meditate or work on my patience…. but when I actually have time to think about these self-improvement plans, I end up wasting time googling home decor ideas and recipes on Pinterest. I tried listening to some parenting podcasts on a recent road trip to Vancouver (for a little Luke Bryan baby!) and after four of them I was so annoyed at the people speaking, the sound of their voices was making me cringe. Not to mention I was with Henry and he couldn’t stop making fun of them so it took all of the learning right out of the activity. Sometimes I think parenting is just a survival game. And your weapon of choice is coffee or wine. At least mine is! So now that we are up to date on current events, where are we headed. November is busy. I have limited my business to three local events, including one at a winery. I need to shift the focus of the business to more online presence. The markets just take a bit too much time when you factor in load-in, being there and taking everything down. So I hope to focus on building up the website which you can check out here, and developing the brand on Etsy. If any of you have experience in building your business on Etsy I would love to hear from you! It seems a bit daunting but I know it needs to be done. November will also present some health commitments including flu shots for the kids and the usual dentist visits. Can’t wait for those! Again, sarcasm detected here. We will also begin the slow filtration of ‘winter decor’ which really is my way of decorating for Christmas early. I usually stick to natural tones though so it’s not too obvious (to the husband) and wait for December for the festive pops of colour. Just a hint we are going to play with a lot of greenery and wood this year. I think it’s time I learned how to use power tools. My DIY to-do list is far too long for a certain handy husband. In the next few weeks though I hope to share some DIY decor projects we have already completed, some recipes I am loving at the moment, and some holiday plans and bucket list items we intend to tick off this winter. So stay tuned for some fun, I promise to make more time for sharing on here.

I have been meaning to sit down and share some festive photos for a couple weeks now. October has just proven to be the busiest month ever. Between Thanksgiving, Hallie’s second birthday, Halloween, and doing al of the usual Fall things like pumpkin patches, holiday baking and crafty playdates, there was simply no time. For anything. Having two small children adds to the busy-ness immensely! In fact maybe they just make it that way. One thing that I did discover during this chaotic month was that busy also equals FUN! We certainly had a lot of that over the past couple weeks.

So what is in store for the spookiest day of the year? We are going to get all dolled up and do some trick-or-treating at the mall. It’s going to go one of two ways. Hallie will either get a kick out of all the costumes and run around having a blast with the other dressed up kiddos. OR (and this is the more likely option) she will have an epic meltdown as I try to get her into her costume and being at the mall will consist of tears, me sweating as I try to contain her and possibly a very early glass of wine for mom. We will give it a whirl though. Tonight we will also try trick-or-treating for the first time. Like proper door-to-door trick-or-treating. Much like this afternoon, I really have no control over how these events will go down. We have to try though! I am sure she will love it and Jackson will just observe as he does so well at the ripe age of 4 months. So! Costumes! The best part of Halloween really… Hallie, myself and Gramma are dressing up as only our favourite ladies ever, The Sanderson Sisters from Hocus Pocus. Jackson is going as Thackery Binx, the cat, and I know we are all wondering it… what the heck kind of name is that anyways. So with that thought in mind I would love to share this link which is full of logical questions we have all asked ourselves as adults (Adults who love this movie anyways).

I also wanted to share some fun decorative photos from our house as well as the great pumpkin hunt at the patch. Or maybe lack there of. We went way too late and all the good ones were gone so store-bought it had to be. Always next year right?! Hope you are all enjoying your Halloween festivities and having a ton of spooky fun.

Well it’s here! Yesterday, being the Eve of Halloween, I always find to be a bit more exciting but nothing beats the actual day of Halloween either. The weather is extra spooky today too, blustery with leaves blowing all over the place. Really adds to the effect of it all!

We got our pumpkins all carved up last night and much like every other year, mine were shockingly bad and hubby’s pumpkin’s resembled the work of Picasso. Carving is not my forte. Nonetheless they are out on the front steps ready to be lit up this evening. I had a few plans for today including heading to the library for spooky story time however my precious little baby is pretty much not down with ANYTHING. Guess she spent all of her good behaviour yesterday. Yesterday went perfectly. Happy baby, easy and long nap time allowing momma to bake cookies and get ready for our halloween party downtown, great participation from a happy baby at the party and then top it all off with a very smooth bedtime. Today nothing is cheering this kid up and naps certainly are not happy. Full moon perhaps? So for now we are just playing and puttering around the house, praying for naps and departing cold and windy walks. Is it time for a Halloween cocktail yet? Nope. It is only 11:30… come on!

Since today is presenting no peace and quiet, I am going to share some fun Halloween photos with you rather than a lengthy post. I hope you all have a wonderfully festive and safe Halloween, full of treats and smiles from your little ones. Hopefully I get a smile out of mine today too! Happy Halloween!

Here are some shots of our Halloween decor during the daytime:

We added a lot more to it all but it’s too cold outside right now for me to take any updated photos. Sorry!
Here are some nighttime shots – much spookier!

We have a cold and rainy day on our hands here. I intended to write a post as soon as Hallie went down for her nap however I passed out HARD on the sofa for the last hour. Somehow, she is still sleeping despite all the hammering and drilling going on downstairs so we will see how long I get before she wakes up and wonders what the heck all that noise is coming through her nursery floor!

Halloween is this weekend! I cannot believe that it is so close and that it also will mark the end of October. Despite how ready we were for Fall, it blows my mind that we are in the thick of it already and November is around the corner. I am not going to lie but thoughts of sugar plums are already dancing in my head. Yes, it’s true. I am one of those people you hate. The one who is singing Christmas songs before her carved pumpkins have rotted. I am going to raise my daughter to do the same too. Of course we will TRY to take our time on the Christmas decor, for hubby’s sake, but I can’t make too many promises.

Back to the present… our weekend was awesome and filled with Halloween fun! The renovations were at a stand still downstairs so we were lucky to get Daddy all weekend long. Saturday we decided we were totally overdue on getting the final decorations up outside. Now that we live in an actual house with front porch and driveway, we had the opportunity to go all out with cheesy Halloween decor. From covering the entire front hedge in cobwebs, to hanging heads from the gutters, not a space out there went bare. We are even making a spooky scene for the garage! I need to get some nighttime pictures but will definitely be posting some to show you. We also finally made a trip to the pumpkin patch! Though the sun was shining, it was a very cold day! Something tells me we will be breaking out the parkas pretty damn soon. The pumpkin path here in Kamloops is crazy! It’s at Tranquille Farms which also resides on the same land that the old asylum is. VERY SPOOKY! There are all these older, dilapidated buildings that seriously look haunted. There are also tunnels underground connecting all of the buildings. Back in the day they used to transport bodies in these tunnels after conducting (rumor has it) very unethical experiments. It was friggin creepy! We obviously did not enter the buildings but had a good drive around the back roads. Hallie had conveniently fallen asleep as soon as we pulled up so this gave us an opportunity to do some four wheel exploring. Once she woke up we carried on to the pumpkin patch and corn maze. Good ol’ Halloween fun! She loved it and we managed to snap some great photos. Sunday we headed out to the Wildlife Park. With the cooler weather, many of the animals had been tucked away where it was warm. We did manage to see some sleepy bears, a variety of birds and owls, and some elk. The park was decorated for Halloween with ghosts and goblins all over. We were there when it was still light out so thankfully Hallie did not get too scared. The mini train ride was not her favourite activity though so if she does have nightmares, I may blame that. All in all it was a great experience and I hope to go back when it is decorated for Christmas (!!!!!!!).

Now we are only days away from the spookiest night of the year. Time to break out the candy, more scary movies because we have had them on non-stop, and carve some pumpkins! Oh and not to mention having Hocus Pocus on repeat during the day- our favourite. Hope you are all having a great time getting in the ‘spirit’!

If you read my last post, well then you know we have been in full force around the house with decorating for fall. I am a little worried as we have yet to make our annual trip to the pumpkin patch. This means more pumpkins are coming! I will need to do some strategic rearranging no doubt of the already existing decor! We have completed the finishing touches on our front porch though and that is what I am sharing with you today! I have always wanted a porch. We had a small one in our townhouse last year however it was tucked around the side of the house and it was rare that anyone saw the display. My house now has a stately front porch which is the first thing you see when you look at the house. Naturally I had to put together some fun ideas in honour of having that space. When we got married, I invested in four vintage crates as our wedding theme was quite rustic. These crates are perfect for repurposing during the fall and winter season. I started with those and a few fall mums. I am not sure if I was luckily to pick the bad bunch or I simply killed them but my mums have died. A sad, dry and lonely looking death. So I moved on to gourds (big surprise), a couple of craft pumpkins from Michaels and small cooking pumpkins from the grocery store. Like I said, we still need to visit the pumpkin patch. We will absolutely be getting some larger, warty and witchy looking pumpkins to join in on this space. The sign was built by my husband and with some spray paint, stencilled letters and your standard burlap garland, it added the perfect touch to a very lonely looking corner. Lastly was the wreath. It is not my usual style when it comes to wreathes but it adds some festive color to the door and seems to work well with everything else.

No holiday decor is complete without a little chalkboard art either. I can’t wait to come up with some spooky sketches in honour of Halloween as well. It’s also time to break out Hocus Pocus and watch it on repeat!

I couldn’t resist sharing this picture. My tiny baby was a week old and we squeezed in a pumpkin patch visit with her. It will be so fun to compare this to this year’s pics and see how much she has grown. I also might cry a little!